----- Original Message ----- From: "Greenberg, Marc L" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Friday, February 07, 2003 3:42 PM Subject: [SEELANGS] FW: urgent request I am forwarding this to the list on behalf of my colleague, Tom Priestly, at the University of Alberta. Best regards, Marc L. Greenberg ----------------------- HUNGER-STRIKE FOR SLOVENE MINORITY LANGUAGE RIGHTS Since 26th October 1998 the Austrian national radio/TV corporation, ORF, has funded a Slovene-language service for the Slovene-speaking minority in Austria, based in the provincial capital, Klagenfurt/Celovec. From 9th July 2001, they provided a full-day service. This programme, "Radio Dva," was terminated on 31st December 2002. The provision of a minority-language programme is based on an internal statute (ORF-Gesetz, para. 5) and is in concord with the European Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (signed by Austria on 1 Feb. 1995, ratified 31 Mar. 1998) and the Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, (signed by Austria on 5 May 1992, ratified 28 Jun. 2001). Towards the end of last year a petition, signed by 8,600 people, was forwarded to the Austrian Chancellor, demanding funding for the radio programme. Since the 1st January the radio staff have been working unpaid. Now, since 1st February, four staffers have been on hunger strike: Natalja Pinter, Marica Stern-Kus^ej, Marjan Pipp and Bojan Wakounig. This is a tense time in world affairs and the provision of language rights is hardly as important as wars and the threat of wars. However, what I encourage you to do will only take a few minutes: if you support the idea of an established linguistic minority being permanently provided with a radio programme in its own language, and wish to encourage the hunger strikers in their ordeal, you can register your comments on web-page http://www.radio-dva.at. You may also wish to send your comments to the Office of the Austrian Chancellor, Wolfgang Schüssel, see http://www.austria.gv.at/e/mail/mail.htm. I suggest that you also send copies of your messages to your Austrian Embassy and/or local Austrian Consulate: see http://www.austria.org/austriaintheus.shtml#5 for those in the U.S.A., http://www.bmaa.gv.at/botschaften/index.html.en elsewhere. If there is anyone you know who might support this initiative, please forward this message to them! With my thanks, Tom Priestly PS: If I have sent this to you more than once, I apologize! ============================================ Tom Priestly 9215-69 Street Edmonton AB Canada T6B 1V8 phone 780-469-2920 fax 780-492-9106 e-mail: [log in to unmask] ============================================ -------------------------------------------------------- Marc L. Greenberg Chair and Professor Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures University of Kansas - Wescoe Hall 1445 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 2133 Lawrence, KS 66045-7590, USA Tel. and voice-mail: (785) 864-2349 Fax: (785) 864-4298; E-mail: [log in to unmask] http://www.ku.edu/~slavic/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription options, and more. Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at: http://home.attbi.com/~lists/seelangs/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------